Scouting For Boys
- Thread starter TheViking
- Start date
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Hey Guest, Early bird pricing on the Summer Moot (29th July - 10th August) available until April 6th, we'd love you to come. PLEASE CLICK HERE to early bird price and get more information.
Standard questions: is it any good? What are the table of contents and how well are they covered? Can anyone please give me the dimensions too? :roll: 
Don't have my copy to hand, I'm afraid, but I have the recent hardback reprint, with a good introduction and additional notes. Probably a couple of inches thick and about the size of a paperback novel. Consequently heavy.
To be honest, aside from having one of the best double entendre titles ever, I would only recommend the book as an interesting read. It comes from a certain time and was written with certain aims, not necessarily ones entirely in tune with the way things are viewed today. Essentially, it's not the bushcraft book you might think, but it is quite good as a general book, particularly for younger readers, to motivate and promote healthy outdoor activities. It tends to be decidedly preachy and, as you might expect, a good deal of the information is rather dated and has not aged well. Indeed, a good many of the opinions and attitudes have fared as badly.
That said, I enjoyed reading it, but it's one for the home library. Good to dip into for amusement, and many sections are of interest to anyone teaching groups of kids in an outdoors setting, but it's a poor field manual (much too heavy for the information it contains) and not really a bushcraft book. You should be aware that there have been numerous editions of this text. The latest reprint is based on a very early version and is reprinted in the spirit of presenting an historical document. If you want a good camping and bushcraft manual from a similar period then I'd suggest Horace Kephart's "Camping and Woodcraft," although it clearly takes second place in the title stakes.
To be honest, aside from having one of the best double entendre titles ever, I would only recommend the book as an interesting read. It comes from a certain time and was written with certain aims, not necessarily ones entirely in tune with the way things are viewed today. Essentially, it's not the bushcraft book you might think, but it is quite good as a general book, particularly for younger readers, to motivate and promote healthy outdoor activities. It tends to be decidedly preachy and, as you might expect, a good deal of the information is rather dated and has not aged well. Indeed, a good many of the opinions and attitudes have fared as badly.
That said, I enjoyed reading it, but it's one for the home library. Good to dip into for amusement, and many sections are of interest to anyone teaching groups of kids in an outdoors setting, but it's a poor field manual (much too heavy for the information it contains) and not really a bushcraft book. You should be aware that there have been numerous editions of this text. The latest reprint is based on a very early version and is reprinted in the spirit of presenting an historical document. If you want a good camping and bushcraft manual from a similar period then I'd suggest Horace Kephart's "Camping and Woodcraft," although it clearly takes second place in the title stakes.
Personally I bought it - flicked through it and stuck it in a corner to gather dust - you'd be better off spending your money on a Richard Graves or Mors Kochanski book.
Of course thats just my opinion.
Of course thats just my opinion.
